The adversary

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The Adversary (English: The Drop) is the 24th novel by the American crime novelist Michael Connelly , the 15th novel in the Harry Bosch series. It was published in 2011 (in German 2014).

action

Harry Bosch is back in the Open-Unsolved Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department . Together with his partner David Chu, he is assigned the case of Lily Price. The student was murdered in 1989. Now a blood trail has been examined for its DNA and assigned to a potential perpetrator. The blood comes from a parole sex offender named Clayton Pell. But: at the time of the murder, Pell was just eight years old. He couldn't have been Lily Price's killer. A mix up of tracks?

Pell is in therapy with psychologist Hannah Stone at a probation facility. He agrees to be interrogated in the presence of Stone. Pell reports that his mother was in a relationship with a man named "Chill" during his childhood, who sexually abused Pell and blew him with a belt - which explains the blood trail on Lily Price's neck. She had been strangled with a belt.

In the middle of the investigation of this case, Bosch and Chu are called to a current case. Lobby attorney George Irving died in a fall from the balcony of room 79 of the Chateau Marmont Hotel . George is the son of Irvin Irving, former head of the LAPD internal investigation unit, now a city councilor. Irving is a political schemer and has tried many times to compromise Bosch's integrity as a detective. Irving explicitly asks Bosch to investigate his son's death because, despite her personal antipathy, he believes Bosch will definitely find out the truth.

Because of some unusual traces on George's body, Bosch initially suspects a murder. Bosch finds out that George Irving, apparently together with his father, had orchestrated a plot to obtain lucrative taxi licenses. He suspects that one of the victims, a former police officer, pushed George Irving off the balcony. Bosch's investigation shows that the alleged perpetrator was actually in Irving's hotel room; but he has a waterproof alibi for the time of the fall. Irving was in the wreckage of his marriage and lost his best friend because of the taxi license conspiracy. That's why he put an end to his life by falling from the balcony of Chateau Marmont. His father, the city council, does not want to accept this investigation result. It was only when Bosch threatened to publicize the affair with the taxi licenses that Irving decided not to initiate an investigation against Bosch himself.

Bosch and Chu turn back to the Lily Price case. You can identify "Chill" as Chilton Hardy, Jr. and trace his father's place of residence. When they questioned the seriously ill father there, Bosch noticed that all of his drugs were over four years old. He reveals that "Chill" is posing as his father. After his arrest, Hardy admits his identity and confesses to the murder of Lily Price and 36 other murders. During a search of the adjoining house, which also belonged to Hardy's father, Bosch finds gruesome evidence of Hardy's crimes, including photos and films of his rapes.

After Pell learns from Bosch that Hardy will never be charged with child molestation due to the statute of limitations, he attacks a police officer and is taken to the same prison where Hardy is being held. When both men are being taken to court on a bus the next morning, Pell attacks Hardy and seriously injures him. Bosch recognizes Pell's plan and can barely save Hardy's life. Bosch then wonders why he saved the life of a serial killer.

background

The original title " The Drop " refers both to the fall of George Irving from the balcony of the hotel room and to DROP , the Deferred Retirement Option Plan of the Los Angeles Police Department. After successfully investigating the serial killer Chilton Hardy, Bosch can extend his tenure under this program by five years.

reception

Kirkus Review finds that it is not Connelly's best book, but at least a welcome return from Harry Bosch after the weak predecessor novel Nine Dragons Publishers Weekly, however, finds all of Connelly's strengths in the novel: “The keen eye for details and police procedures , lots of LA flavor, clever conspiracies and, most importantly, the lively presence of Harry Bosch. ”The New York Times reviewer wonders if Michael Connelly has time for really good novels given his diverse activities and answers the question for this one: " The Drop is one of those Harry Bosch books that start with a bang and stay strong until the end." The Washington Post review comes to a more cautious verdict, suggesting that this novel doesn't really go up at the end is good - in the original a play on words with the title: "... the novel ends up not being truly good to the last drop."

The reviewer of the Krimicouch cannot get much positive out of the novel: not only does the plot contain very peculiar coincidences, the language and style also show that "Connelly doesn't have what it takes to be a great writer".

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Janet Maslin Like His Creator, a Busy Guy in: New York Times November 23, 2011
  2. ↑ Kirkus Review: The Drop by Michael Connelly
  3. ↑ Publishers Weekly: The Drop by Michael Connelly
  4. ^ Art Taylor "The Drop" is Michael Connelly's new thriller about LAPD Detective Harry Bosch in: Washington Post November 29, 2011
  5. ↑ Marcel Feige: And if they haven't died, they still munch on crime thriller couch.de, May 2013